New virtual fracture clinic offers one-on-one care

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A new initiative by the Toowoomba Hospital to improve the care provided to patients who have fractures is being rated a success.

In a state-first, the new nurse-led virtual fracture clinic model enables certain patients to be cared for by a nurse over the phone.

“Under this model, we can safely care for 14 different fracture types,” Acting Clinical Nurse Consultant Orthopaedics Tanya Archinal said.

“The patient’s referral is reviewed by a doctor and, when appropriate, transferred to the virtual, nurse-led fracture clinic.”

Tanya said many of her patients were children, so it was often parents or caregivers she would speak to over the phone.

“I ring to do an assessment,” she said. “We talk about how they are going, what their injury actually is, how to look after it, and when they should see a GP, as well as any concerns they have or problems that we can solve together.

“I also follow up with written instructions to the patient or their carer, and a letter to their GP.”

Tanya said the beauty of the model was in its simplicity.

“Patients don’t need to book an appointment or attend the hospital. And if they miss my phone call, then I send them a text message to call me back at a time that suits them,” Tanya said.

“I’ve found that I only usually need to speak to a patient just once to set them on the right path to recovery.

“In the first six months of the program, I spoke to 390 patients. The vast majority of the patients were quite happy to receive their follow-up care via this program.

“It’s about improving the patient experience whilst maintaining safety and quality care.”

While other facilities are implementing a similar model, the nurse-led component with medical governance is unique to Darling Downs Health.

So unique, that it was highlighted as part of the Clinical Excellence Queensland Healthcare Showcase last week.

It was an opportunity for Tanya to present her findings and experiences of setting up and leading the nurse-led virtual clinic to an audience of healthcare professionals from across the state

“Tanya’s presentation was very well received at the Showcase and was shortlisted for our Excellence Award, which is given to the program or model we feel has the strongest potential to be scaled elsewhere in the state,”

Dr Helen Brown, Deputy Director-General, Clinical Excellence Queensland

“Darling Downs’ nurse-led virtual fracture clinic is an excellent example of not just thinking differently, but what can happen when we empower and support our staff to work to their full or expanded scope of practice.”